Two main complaints that are currently prevalent in the golf industry are that the cost of the game has increased to a point where it is no longer an inexpensive recreational activity, and that the game takes too long to play since rounds of golf can often take up to 6 hours or more to play. A related complaint is that because of recent advances in technology, longer and longer courses are required, which require greater areas of land. This exacerbates the high cost complaint, and by necessity, increases the time to play the game.
Moreover, it is also known by the average golfer that to improve at the game, it is necessary to practice, and numerous driving ranges, or more generally, golf practice facilities, are available to golfers in order to practice the golf swing. However, commonly the player finds that hitting balls at a driving range can be boring, and the practice session may not be beneficial to the player if he is ingraining incorrect swing patterns or swing mechanics. As such, many players do not use these practise facilities to their optimum advantage.
A further disadvantage of most golf training facilities, and driving ranges, is that the golfer is merely practising the golf swing, and is not receiving instruction on the strategies for playing the game. For example, while a player may be able to practice hitting a driver at a driving range, he is not taught when it would be beneficial to use some other club on the course when playing the game. The player must sort this out for themselves while actually playing the game.
Golf teaching professionals are commonly available at a driving range, but they are typically restricted to only teaching the golf swing. There is little or no opportunity to discuss strategy with the player in a specific, real game situation.
Numerous patents have previously been issued to inventors attempting to resolve or ameliorate some or all of these problems. Typically, they provide or involve a method to simulate a golf game while at a practice facility.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,708 discloses a golf course wherein all drives are hit on a driving range which is provided with yardage distance markers. The player registers his estimated distance on a display board and, depending on the length of the alleged hole, the display board tells the player to either “hit again”, “register yardage” or “pitch to pitching green”. The player then proceeds to hit the second shot for the theoretical hole, which can be either a par 4 or a par 5, and continues hitting from the driving tee until he receives the designation “hit to designated mechanized range green”.
The mechanized range green is divided into segments or areas, each representative of a given distance from a flag stick. The areas are defined by a wire mesh material which is supported above the ground surface and intercepts the ball. The ball proceeds over a sloped portion of the mesh to a ball return conduit wherein it actuates a contact switch which indicates to the player which segment the ball is hit onto. The player then goes to an actual putting green and places his ball at the distance indicated by the approach shot which was caught by a segment of the mesh. A minimum of walking is involved, hence expediting the play. The problem with this arrangement is the monotony involved in hitting one, two or three balls from the same driving tee before hitting the ball to land on the mechanized putting green. The entire game of hitting fairway woods or long approach shots from a varying slope terrain is eliminated, and the only true golf shots are the initial drive and the putting on the actual putting green.
A number of patents relating to golf practice areas have been developed which provide the practicing golfer with an indication of the length of his drive by trapping the ball by a net, or a transversely inclined, hard landing area which directs it into a return trough or gutter for actuation of a distance indicator and redelivery to the practice tee. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,869,642.
In this patent, all drives, regardless of direction, end up in a gutter at the side of the fairway. Hence a ball hit to the right or left of center can register the same yardage as a ball hit down the middle. Only one playable fairway and green are provided, creating monotony rather than the challenge of eighteen different holes.
Also know are the so-called computerized golf wherein a picture of a famous golf hole appears in front of the player and he hits the drive which is captured by a net or similar target and the distance and direction of the drive is indicated by a computer. The picture then changes to the remainder of the hole so that the player may hit a second shot (or a third shot on a par 5 hole) toward the pictured green. This apparatus is most commonly utilized indoors and provides very little exercise other than the swinging of the club.
Driving ranges with a plurality of greens located at differing distances and directions have also been proposed. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,980.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,173 discloses a plurality of driving ranges with each green having 18 flags located thereon. Thus, an entire game of par 3 golf may be played from a single tee by directing the shots at the flag bearing the number of the hole being played. Actual putting of the ball is not involved.
The concept of combining a single target green with a plurality of driving tees located at varying distances and varying angles with respect to the target tee is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,738. In this arrangement, the second shot is not played from its normal location but from an arbitrary fairway hitting position which represents the remaining yardage for the hole. Thus, deviations in the line of flight of the originally hit ball are not taken into account. The position of the balls on the target green are indicated by three concentric circles surrounding the pin on the target green. All putting strokes are performed at a putting green which is located behind the driving tees and has a separate pin for each hole. The game is played in sequence of first hitting all drives, then hitting all fairway shots, and the approach shots from the tee area, and then moving to the actual putting greens to complete the putting for each hole. Obviously, this procedure bears little resemblance to the normal game of golf, and has not been successful in attracting more players.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,875, a reduced area golf course is provided, which can be played at night. The course utilizes a common driving range environment for tee shots for all par 4's and 5's, and provides an adjacent golf course in which the initial 100 to 150 yards for these holes has been removed. The golfer is provided which an indication where his drive on the driving range landed, and then translates that information on the actual course. Again, the golfer is required to hit several, or all drives in succession, and therefore, the procedure does not properly simulate the normal game of golf.
In general though, none of the cited prior art documents provide a realistic simulated golf game in which the player plays the course in order while being located at one position at a driving range or other golf practice facility. Further, none of the cited prior art provides a realistic golf game simulation that can be played in a localized environment that provides a convenient method for a golf professional to provide lessons on golf course “management”, or input on the strategy of playing the game.